This invention relates to a rotatable spray nozzle apparatus for attachment to a spray gun wherein the rotatable spray nozzle is sealably connected to the spray fluid passage, and is integrally supported by a safety tip guard. If the safety tip guard is removed the rotatable spray nozzle becomes disassembled.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,955, issued Dec. 12, 1974, and entitled "Safety Tip Guard" discloses a safety guard for protection against accidental contact of high pressure liquid by the human body. The patent discloses a fan-shaped safety guard which is attachable to the end of a spray gun by means of a spring clip connection so as to accommodate the shape of spray patterns currently being used by state of the art spray guns without inhibiting the spray gun utility for spraying articles to be coated. The forwardly projecting ears of the device disclosed in this patent are separated by a narrow slotted region opening near the spray tip. This safety guard is typically used in spraying paint under high hydraulic fluid pressures.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,763, issued May 11, 1976, and entitled "Rotatable Spray Nozzle" discloses an apparatus for attachment to a spray gun comprising a rotatable ball member having a spray orifice in a diametric passage and a handle formed as an integral part thereof. The patent also discloses a housing for enclosing the ball member while allowing the handle portion to project external of the housing, and a sealing member for fitting into the housing in sealing contact with the ball member, and a threadable attachment for securing the housing and ball and sealing members to a spray gun so that the ball member may be rotatably moved to place the spray orifice in either a spraying position or in a cleaning position with respect to the spray gun.
The principal problem which must be overcome in the design of a rotatable spray nozzle, where high hydraulic pressures are encountered, is to provide an adequate sealing means which will prevent fluid leakage, especially after repeated rotations of the spray nozzle and periodic instances of breaking the seal connection because of removal of the nozzle from the spray gun for cleaning or other purposes. It has often been necessary to provide a clamping means which holds the rotatable spray nozzle against the spray gun under very high clamping forces in order to prevent fluid leakage around the rotatable spray nozzle. The clamping forces necessary for sealing have frequently been high enough to inhibit the rotatability of the spray nozzle, and further, to prematurely damage the internal sealing components. A secondary problem which must be overcome or safeguarded against whenever high hydraulic pressure fluids are sprayed is to provide adequate protection from human contact with the spray fluid, at least over a relatively short distance in front of the spray orifice. Spray particles emitting from the spray orifice are for a brief distance arranged in the form of a high-velocity sheet of liquid, which sheet quickly breaks up in the atmospheric environment to create finely atomized particles. The foregoing U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,763, discloses an apparatus directed at the problem of providing an adequate sealing means, and the foregoing U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,955, discloses an apparatus directed at the problem of avoiding human contact with the vicinity immediately in front of the spray orifice. The present invention in part comprises an improved combination of the two foregoing patents, and in part comprises an improvement over each of them.